Showing posts with label boats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boats. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Shock Waves

"Shock Waves" aka "Almost Human" aka "Death Corps" (1977, Ken Wiederhorn, Zopix Company) is a shipwreck-cum-Nazi-zombie-survival movie.


Captain Ben Morris (John Carradine), his crew and his passengers are involved in an accident when travelling across sea. They are forced to abandon their wrecked boat and the survivors find their way onto an nearby island.


They are shocked to learn that the island is not completely uninhabited when they meet a reclusive SS Commander (Peter Cushing) who warns them to leave the island as it is dangerous.


Unable to heed his warning, due mostly to the fact that they lack any means of escape, the survivors find that they are being hunted by a swarm of undead Nazi super-soldiers created during WWII. The Commander had purposefully sunk his ship containing them, trapping himself on the island in the process. But, being zombies, the creatures have been lying dormant in wait of fresh victims...


A slow moving film that lacks the strong plot necessary to keep up momentum, but managing to be entertaining in its sheer silliness and feature a very cool setting. The zombies seem to be mostly aquatic and we are treated to many scenes of them slowly rising from the shallows to trap their victims, walking underwater and jumping into unused swimming pools. They are also decked out in Nazi uniforms and wearing dark goggles which protect them from the dangers of daylight.


I would have enjoyed a little more of both John Carradine and Peter Cushing in this film, but despite their relatively short screentime the film is still engaging thanks to our cast of hapless, squabbling tourists and final girl, Rose (Brooke Adams).


A slow film that does not deliver much in the way of gore or scares; most of the action is off-screen. However, the film is well made, enjoys some good underwater scenes and is nonetheless a good yarn worth checking out. Even if it's mostly just for the begoggled zombies.


[Image: Zopix Co.]
Hani

Friday, 19 December 2014

Nymph

"Nymph" aka "Killer Mermaid" aka "Mamula" aka "Dark Sea" (2014, Viktorija Film, Talking Wolf Productions) is a film from Serbia about, you guessed it - a killer mermaid!

Many thanks to fellow Blogger, Christopher Zisi who drew my attention to this film with his glorious review (which can be found here: http://zisiemporium.blogspot.cz/2014/12/killer-mermaid-montenegro-nights.html) <- Check it out!

Not a film to disappoint, our first scenes are of a very beautiful couple having a road trip; smooching here, there and everywhere and then getting a bit frisky by the sea. Beautiful people, toplessness and bikinis are consistent themes in this film.

Then we meet our villains: a *sometimes beautiful* man-eating mermaid and her accomplice... with his fishhook.

The actual plot follows two women, Kelly (Kristina Klebe) and Lucy (Natalie Burn) who are old college mates on holiday in Montenegro to meet up with old flame and college mate, Alex (Slobodan Stefanovic) and his (much to their disappointment) fiance, Yasmin (Sofija Rajovic).

While out and about they also happen upon Yasmin's hot pal, Boban (Dragan Micanovic), who convinces the crowd to check out an old abandoned prison, located on its own island just out of distance of the mainland. Despite being warned to steer clear of the place by a local the crew head on out there anyway, intent on taking photos and having a good time.

Much to their horror, they find that they are not the only ones visiting the island that day and are dismayed and intrigued to find a man emptying buckets filled with human remains into a well that appears to house a beautiful young girl. The gang decide to save her.... Big mistake.

A very beautiful film, the scenery is glorious and the actors are all very pretty as well as being actually able to act - which is unusual in a straight to DVD film.

The special effects are surprisingly impressive. Despite being clearly CGI, the mermaid's tail is very sleekly done and the movement of her in the water is enough to rival some much bigger budget films.

While the plot is pretty standard B-movie fayre, the story keeps going and has a few gory bits to keep you intrigued. I also enjoyed the mermaid's 'true face' and her siren-abilities to sing and draw only the menfolk to their grisly deaths.

A good ol' bitch fight at the end also acts as a good pay off.

Giving you exactly what it says on the box "Nymph" is just what I wanted out of a killer mermaid flick!

[Image: Viktorija Film]
 
Hani